Deep Purple Live in Japan

Recorded over three nights in August 1972, Deep Purple's Made in Japan was the record that brought the band to headliner status in the U.S. and elsewhere, and it remains a landmark in the history of heavy metal music. Since reorganizing with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover in 1969, Deep Purple had recorded three important albums – Deep Purple in Rock, Fireball, and Machine Head – and used the material to build a fierce live show. Made in Japan, its selections drawn from those albums, documented that show, in which songs were drawn out to ten and even nearly 20 minutes with no less intensity, as guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord soloed extensively and Gillan sang in a screech that became the envy of all metal bands to follow.

This Special Edition three-CD set features the three 1972 concert recordings from which the classic Made in Japan album was selected, remixed, and remastered. It's almost complete - a few encores and two songs from Made in Japan had to be left off, as the remaining tracks clock in at over 230 minutes. Deep Purple played almost exactly the same set each night, so there's a lot of duplication here, but they're in fantastic form throughout most of the performances. The second show, over half of which did make it onto Made in Japan, burns brilliantly and white hot from start to finish, and there are other new highlights as well, including the wailing encore "Black Night." Only you can decide if you need three 20-minute versions of "Space Truckin'," but for fans this is a valuable set - not only for comparative listening (Jon Lord never plays the intro to "Child in Time" the same way twice)…

In 1974, Deep Purple were proving detractors wrong who figured that the exit of both singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover a year earlier would lead the group into an artistic tailspin. But as it turned out, newcomers David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes were worthy replacements, who contributed significantly to two more Purple classics in a single-year span, Burn and Stormbringer. And the "new look Purple" was certainly capable of delivering the goods during their live performances that year, as evidenced by the 2011 archival release, Live in London 1974. Expectedly, the track listing is comprised of then-new tunes (a red hot, set-opening reading of Burn's title track, as well as "Might Just Take Your Life," etc.), plus classics ("Smoke on the Water," "Space Truckin'," etc.).

Recorded live at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 24 August 1969 and live in Stockholm, 12 November 1970.